Barra Nationals 2008 - Port Stephens NSW

Got One Port Stephens (NSW)

Barra Nationals 2008

Well, what can I say. What a great trip it was this year to the 2008 Barra Nationals. The event is held at the Daly River which is approx 2.5 hours south west of Darwin and is hosted by Palmerston Game Fishing Club.  I would like to start this article by acknowledging the fantastic work of the organisers.  Everything is catered for so that the anglers are able to concentrate on hooking the Big One.  Your entry fee covers camping fees, all food, entertainment, 70 litres of fuel and two bags of ice (frozen water) per day.

The competition is purely lures (no bait) and is all catch and release.  This year there was a measuring stick provided as well as a camera and sd card to record all captures.  It runs over five days of good hard fishing.

Day one (Sunday) was orientation day and those that are not familiar with the river can go out with the local fisheries rep for a familiarisation tour.  Let me say that the Daly River is not for the faint hearted.  There are sandbanks, rock bars, submerged logs, crocs and other nasty surprises – including other competitors.  If you fish this comp and manage to get through without hitting one of these nasties then I can only assume you stayed around the campsite. My skipper (Roger E) managed to hit the Woolianna sandbank every morning (and every afternoon).  100% strike rate…… He claims he was just trying to dig a channel through it to make it easier for the other boats.

We headed out to familiarize ourselves with the river and to check out some of the likely snags on orientation day and as is usually the way I hooked my biggest fish on that day – a 92cm chrome bullet.  Of course no points for that one, but we did get a nice pic for the album.

92cm Chrome Bullet

Day one of the comp started with a race up the river.  We hit the water at 7am and the boats were blasted off in 10 minute intervals – 15 at a time.  With the mist on the water and most boats dressing up in ridiculous outfits, it is quite a spectacle.  Pretty bloody hair raising at times too….mine turned purple and it frightened the living daylights out of Roger (see pic below).

Fishing started with lines in at 8:30 and by 8:40 I was on to our first fish.  A 74cm barra which started our points tally nicely.  The chopper was filming from overhead during the fight and hopefully we might get some good footage in weeks to come.  Our first day saw the boat running 6^th out of 57 and I was in 3^rd place individually out of 173 anglers.

It was all down hill from there though with hard days fishing for little result and some of the other boats finding good fish (bloody locals).  Unfortunately I had a two day stint with no fish on the board but ……..ya get that.  The other guys in my boat, Roger Enriquez (CEO Got One) and Steve “Scoop” Cooper (fishing journalist from VIC) fished very well and we ended up a credible 21^st out of the 57 boats, 5^th in the interstate teams.

The days started with boats on the water at 6:30 and lines in at 7am.  Lines out were 5pm daily and the score card and cameras had to be handed in by 6:30.  Tidy and re-fuel the boat, a good scrub and off to dinner (fantastic food), a few CFDs (cold fizzy drinks) and off for a quick kip – before doing it all again the next day.  There was nightly entertainment with two MCs running raffles etc, musicians, comedians, iron man comps etc etc.  We had a great week fishing and bagged a lot more fish over the course of the competition. 

Some stats for the comp were:

Winning Boat – Classic Nitro on 2940 points

Champion Angler – Trevor Robb (from Classic Nitro) on 1410 points

Interstate Team winners VB Bandits (from VIC)

GOT ONE team finished 11^th overall with 1287 points

GOT ONE TWO finished 21^st with 1047 points

Will I be there next year?   You bloody bet I will….

Cheers

Shep